Report Will Offer Ideas To Control Plant In Lake

SUFFIELD — A report recommending ways to control the Eurasian water milfoil -- a feathery plant filling up the Congamond Lakes -- is expected within the next few weeks.

Bruce Root, a lakeside resident and a member of the group Citizens Restoring Congamond, said Friday that he anticipates the report will be completed by month's end. Members of the citizens group, which is made up of residents from Suffield and Southwick, Mass., hired the Lake and Watershed Management Group of West Suffield to conduct the study.

The milfoil, according to the management group, has infested 70 to 80 percent of the shorelines along Middle and South ponds. Wendy LaMontagne, the director of the town's park and recreation department, said the milfoil has not been found in the Babb's Beach swimming area, but lifeguards have nevertheless been shown how to remove the plant, which spreads mostly by fragmentation.

Left unchecked, the milfoil can prevent recreational activities such as swimming and boating and potentially lowers the value of area homes.

Among the preliminary solutions recommended to manage the milfoil are aquatic herbicides and biological controls such as grass carp and weevils.

Selectman Paul Kulas, who is a liaison with the lake group and Southwick officials, said a long- term solution could cost $20,000 to $40,000. Though the lakes are technically in Massachusetts, Kulas said at least a third of the lakeside residents are in Suffield.

``We have to work with Southwick on developing a formula that will pay for the solution,'' he said.